Glycine decarboxylase controls photosynthesis and plant growth

Photorespiration makes oxygenic photosynthesis possible by scavenging 2-phosphoglycolate. Hence, compromising photorespiration impairs photosynthesis. We examined whether facilitating photorespiratory carbon flow in turn accelerates photosynthesis and found that overexpression of the H-protein of glycine decarboxylase indeed considerably enhanced net-photosynthesis and growth of Arabidopsis thaliana. At the molecular level, lower glycine levels confirmed elevated GDC activity in vivo, and lower levels of the CO(2) acceptor ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate indicated higher drain from CO(2) fixation. Thus, the photorespiratory enzyme glycine decarboxylase appears as an important feed-back signaller that contributes to the control of the Calvin-Benson cycle and hence carbon flow through both photosynthesis and photorespiration.